And that is exactly how it turned out. It was truly the most fun I had all weekend and I owe it all to my terrific kayaking partner Tim, who happened to be very experienced and was able to give me some personal instruction and pointers. On top of that he was just a blast to be with and made the entire trip fun! The day started off cold and cloudy and the talk was about a storm that was suppose to make our trip miserable, cold and rainy. Miraculously, as soon as we hit the water the sun came out and gave us a couple of wonderful, sunny hours.
Despite having kayaked before, this was all pretty new to me. Most of my experience had been ocean kayaking and very low key, as in "here's the boat and paddle, wear your life jacket and have fun" - that was about the extent of any instruction we were given. The only river kayaking I had done was way back in college and I don't remember much about it. This day was a solid introduction to good techniques, which I plan to put into practice as much as possible.
The rapids were Class 1-2, big enough to be fun but not too scary. We spent a lot of the time going in circles - I just could not master the whole "going in a straight line" thing at all (sound familiar? It was the same problem I had biking - why does that not surprise me?) Tim kept giving me pointers on how to correct my zigzag approach and I was starting to get a little better toward the end of the day. I wish we had had more time but unfortunately it all ended way too soon. As soon as it gets a bit warmer you can bet I'll be out there practicing though!
I did learn a lot but most importantly, I had fun. I laughed, saw lots of beautiful scenery and had great company to enjoy it all with. You can't ask for a better day than that - it was a perfect ending to the camp.
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